Battle Cries
by Agent Ilse Stiefel-Getzug
Summary: We never really got a good look at Tunny and Extraordinary Girl's relationship, like how they met and how their relationship started. Until now. Will be multi-chapter.
1. Duty Calls

**Hello! I am somewhat new to the AI fandom (loved it for a long time, saw it live and fell even more in love with it). So I thought I'd try my hand at writing some American Idiot, Tunny and Extraordinary Girl, specifically. Their relationship is my favourite in the show and is pretty much the only stable one. ****One thing you should know about me: just like I fall for Moritzes in Spring Awakening, I easily fall for Tunnys...but I could go on and on about that...**

**Also some of the names might sound familiar. I don't own any of them. I used some of the cast members from both the Broadway and touring casts. So if you see Theo or Matt in the story somewhere , you'll know where they're from :)**

**Disclaimer: American Idiot is not mine. Neither is Scott J. Campbell. Or Stark Sands. Unfortunately.**

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><p>"You ready, man?"<p>

"Hell yeah!"

"Let me at 'em!"

"Where's my rifle?"

I laughed quietly to myself as I walked to the hospital wing. Hearing the soldiers getting pumped up for battle wasn't something you heard very often. But it made me happy whenever I heard it. They're all here for a purpose, and hearing them cry out like that made me remember mine. I checked in with the other girls before tending to another soldier with a broken arm.

"How you been holding up, Sergeant Call?" I asked while changing the bandages on his other arm.

"Been better," he said with a shrug.

"Well, just rest up for a bit. Take it easy, alright? I'll be back in a bit. Just have to finish filling out your forms."

"Can I sleep?" he asked, trying to hide his yawn. The poor guy had been through a bunch of x-rays after doing a demonstration wrong in training camp yesterday."Of course. Who says you can't?"

I fixed his blanket, and gave him a smile. I picked up the unused towel by his bed to put in the basket over my shoulder (you never know when you need it in this wing) and headed back to the desk near the front where we kept all the forms. Jen, another nurse, was finishing filing a form when I walked up to the desk. She gave me a look that said "good luck, forms suck" and went to tend to another soldier. I hated this part of the job. Forms were tedious, but necessary. It wasn't what I wanted to sign up for, but it had to be done.

"Dude, have you seen the nurses here? Good choice, huh?"

Although I must admit, the outside conversations you overhear are quite amusing.

"There isn't some rule about...you know..." said the soldier's voice.

"Don't even think about it, man," replied another one.

"Damn it. I mean have you SEEN the blonde one? Dude what I would-"

"How about ...what's her name?"

"The redhead?"

"No, my dark lady," this soldier said in a different tone. I had to stop myself from laughing loudly.

"You know they can probably hear us right now." This voice was new.

"Come on, Clarke."

"You've gotta admit, they're pretty hot. And how long has it been for you, buddy? Months, hasn't it?"

"Seriously, guys," the new guy said. I could hear a sense of urgency in his voice. "We're right outside. I'm pretty sure they can hear us."

"So what? They need to know how hot they are."

"Ben's messed. I'm pretty sure they can't hear what we're saying."

I decided to step outside. "Actually...we can," I said with a smirk.

There were three of them, all sweaty. It looks like they just finished training camp. Two of them looked as though they were caught in some terrible act. One of them was even starting to blush a little and his friend looked around like he didn't know what was going on. The other one was simply trying to hold in his laughter.

"My apologies, ma'am," one said, and did a little bow. The other nodded at me, then left with the other guy. The one who was laughing before just casually stayed put. He was quite handsome once I took a closer look at him. His eyes seemed cold at first, but I could still see a bit of a twinkle in there. He already seemed like he had been through a lot, but I could see the face of a hero in him. Even his expression at the moment came across as a bit of a misunderstood guy. I could see he had a couple of tattoos, including a star on his neck.

And of course, the shallow, girly girl inside of me took notice that his sweaty shirt was sticking to him... very well.

"Sorry about them. They're soldiers, but still men," he said to me.

"Then what does that make you?" I replied.

He stopped himself before replying, realizing what he said before. I laughed a little. "No worries, just teasing you."

"Smart one, aren't you?" he asked me.

"I try," I shrugged.

"You wouldn't happen to have any water do you? Or a towel? Training camp is kicking my ass." he said, rubbing his neck.

I figured. "It'll do that to you," I gave him the towel I had on my shoulder and went inside to grab one of the spare bottles we kept on the desk. When I came back and gave it to him, he downed half of it in a matter of seconds.

"Are they not keeping you hydrated or something?" I asked.

"I woke up late and forgot to fill up my water bottle before it started," he explained, wiping his forehead with a towel.

"Smooth," I commented. He smirked and looked around trying to figure out where to leave the towel. "You can give it to me; I have to put the towels in the laundry, anyway." He gave it to me, but I noticed he missed a spot by the star tattoo on his neck.

"Oh, you forgot over here," I said, and stepped closer to him to wipe it away. I didn't notice how close I was until I looked up and saw his face close to mine. I stepped away and cleared my throat while he looked away.

"So how come you didn't run off with your friends there? Shouldn't you be off with them talking about us?" I asked, changing the subject and putting the towel back on my shoulder.

He scoffed. "Ben and Dan? Nah. Right now, they're probably thinking about some way to get injured to get into the hospital wing to see you nurses."

"And you wouldn't do the same?"

"Nah. Why go to all that trouble when you could be having a real conversation like we're having right now?" he said with a small smile.

"Touché." This one was clever. "Smart one, aren't you?"

"I try," he said with a laugh. "Shouldn't you be off doing something important now, too?"

"Like what, filling out forms for patients? Trust me I'd rather not be doing that at all. It's important, but tedious. It can wait for a little longer."

He nodded like he knew what I was talking about. It looked like he was about to say something else, but someone called out "Clarke!" He turned around while the soldier who called his name told him someone else needed him. He nodded at the other soldier then turned back to me.

"Duty calls," he said with a shrug. "That means for you, too, you know."

"Yeah, I know. My hand is not going to be happy about that." He smirked and nodded at me, and started to turn and walk away.

"Clarke!" I shouted before I could stop myself. He turned around to face me.

"Just checking to see if that's your name," I said. He walked back to me again.

"Well since you know mine, wouldn't it be fair for you to tell me yours?" he asked with a puppy dog look on his face.

God, I hate it when guys do that.

I almost didn't want to tell him and leave him with a little bit of a mystery. Of course, knowing my luck, one of the nurses shouted out, "Jones!" I turned around to find Jen about to say something, until she took a look and noticed the soldier standing with me. She smirked but gave a head move letting me know they needed me back in there before she went back inside.

"Well there you go," I said to the soldier.

He smiled at me then, and it was one of the most heart warming ones I've ever seen. His eyes lit up in a new way. They were kinder. When he smiled, I could see there was still a child in him. This somewhat tough exterior I saw before melted into a kinder man. I'd even say he looked adventurous, but sweet.

"Jones, huh?" He offered his hand like a gentleman. I took it and shook it. "Nice to meet you," he said with a little head bow and turned to walk away. I started to walk back inside.

"Hey Jones!" he said before I got there. I turned around to face him.

"They were right, though," he said.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Ben and Dan. The other two soldiers I was with." When he saw that I was still confused about what he was talking about, he came up to me, right by my ear and curled my hair back.

"They did make a very good choice with the nurses," he whispered. He smiled his enticing smile and winked before walking away. I laughed a little, not really believing he just used that line.

"Hey Jones!" I heard Jen call out. I went back inside to find her finishing up the form I had started.

"Somebody's blushing," she teased at me. I didn't even realize I was until she brought it up.

"Oh, shut up," I said. I really chose a great moment to not have a comeback.

"Hon, I know it's been months-"

"Jen!"

"But you can't just go out ogling and flirting with the hot soldiers when we're on duty!" She paused for a moment as she got up, fixing her ponytail. "Save that for later," she whispered and nudged me when she walked past. She giggled as she took the towel off my shoulder and tossed it in the closest laundry basket.

I laughed and shook my head. "You're one to talk, Miss The-Shirtless-Guys-Are-Why-I-Signed-Up-For-This!"

"Please, we all did!" she laughed from the other room. I laughed at her. I won't lie; the guys did help in making my decision to join. I took the form from the desk and went to file it away.

"Call...Call..." I said the name, trying to find it and started to hum a tune. Something else had caught my eye, though once I filed it away.

"Clarke." Temptation got the best of me, and I took a peek.

Tunny.

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><p><strong>I give virtual baked goods to anyone who reviews. Just thought you should know. *cough cough*<strong>


	2. Heat

**Here's the second chapter! If you're not laughing or blushing at any point in this, then I must have done something wrong. Hope you like it!**

**Also, if any of you lovely readers want to be written in as a character in this story, please let me know. I've already written someone in, and have another one for an upcoming chapter. If you want in on this, let me know (in a review *hint* *hint*). I'm more than happy to include you guys!**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, American Idiot is still not mine. Otherwise there would be a lot more shirtless Tunny.**

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><p>It cannot be legal for it to be this hot.<p>

Seriously, the weather was not anybody's friend for the past few days. Today was the worst, though. I lost count of how many soldiers had come to us because of heat exhaustion after fourteen. Water was our best friend, and we needed more of it to go around. I honestly don't know how we planned to make it through today.

"Hey Jones, we got another one!" I heard Anna, another nurse, call out.

"Who is it this time?" I asked, wiping my forehead with a towel. Stupid heat.

"Stockman..." Anna trailed off as she checked. "Theo." I walked in the room to find Anna helping a soldier into one of the beds. He seemed very close to passing out. I went to help her out when she stopped me. "It's okay, I got this one."

"You're pretty..." he trailed off, sounding almost drunk.

"You need some water. You're delusional," she said as she started wiping him down with a cold cloth and loosened his shirt.

"No you're just really pretty," he said again with a dopey smile on his face.

"You seem to be fine here," I said with a smirk. Anna gave me a smile as she continued on the soldier who kept staring at her.

I downed some more water from my bottle and took a seat on the desk. I was exhausted. It's been madness having so many soldiers coming in and out from the hospital wing. I never really had any time for myself. I saw Alysha wheeling in another soldier whose leg seemed to be horribly wounded. I went to go help, but she stopped me. I was stuck on "heat duty" because there were so many soldiers who came in because of heat exhaustion, heat rashes, and everything in between. I swear we've seen almost every soldier in here.

Well, except for one.

"Hey, Jonesy!" I heard Jen call out from outside. "Mind helping me out over here?"

"I'm on it!" I went outside and sure enough, there was Jen helping a barely conscious soldier through the door with his head down. I took his other arm and we got him through the door and onto a bed in another room since the other one was full. "Who is it this time?" I asked as we got him on the bed.

"You tell me," she said with a smile and left to get another towel and some water. I lifted his head up to get a good look.

Clarke.

Tunny.

"Oh boy," I said to myself and started wiping him down. It was only a matter of time before he came in because of the heat, too. I adjusted the stretcher up slightly and started to elevate his legs. Standard procedure. Jen came in and dropped off the essentials: a basin of water, lots of proper fluids, towels, Tylenol, and a spray bottle of water (that, surprisingly, comes in handy). I took the bottle and sprayed him a couple of times to get him conscious. "Hey, soldier, wake up," I said while getting out a water bottle.

"Whaa..." he started to say in a low voice. I grabbed a towel and dipped it in the basin of water, then went to wipe his face.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. We can't have you passed out on us," I said, wiping his face and neck. My eyes lingered around his star tattoo. When I looked up, I found his green eyes staring at me. It took a moment before I realized what was going on for either of us looked away.

"What happened? Why am I here?" he said looking around, very confused.

"You passed out from heat exhaustion, just like the dozens of other people in here," I said, giving him a water bottle.

"Fuck," he said as he took the water bottle and downed it.

"Hey, keep your head up when you drink," I said, adjusting his pillows so his head was up. "Don't want you choking."

"Whatever," he said, and continued drinking. I tried to loosen his clothes as much as possible to cool him down. It wasn't helping. He managed to sweat entirely through his shirt. He seemed to be the worst case I've dealt with in terms of heat exhaustion. He was rubbing his head continuously, probably because of a headache. I gave him some Tylenol to help with that, which he willingly took.

"Must've been torturous out there, huh?" I said, unsuccessfully trying to loosen his clothes.

"You have no idea," he replied.

"Hey, hey, you don't need that many!" I warned him. It seems he thought five was a good amount to take. "Don't go all overdose on us now." He gulped them down anyways. I gave him a look that said "what-did-I-just-say" but he didn't seem to care. He simply looked away. I went back to my work and practically had to peel the shirt off his skin to get some air to him. I sighed and undid his pants. He noticed.

"What are you doing there, trying to get me naked?" he said.

"Don't get smart. Loosening your clothes helps to cool you down. Common knowledge," I said, giving one last tug on his shirt to loosen it up. It didn't end up working. "You can keep your pants on, but I might actually have to get you to take your shirt off. Tight fitting clothing is never good for working in heat."

He nodded and put his water bottle down. I turned around and went to dip the towel in the water again. When I looked back, I found him with his bare back to me as he threw his shirt off to the corner. Then he lied down again and looked over at me. The decent, smart, professional nurse in me knew that I should finish wiping off the sweat and concentrate on cooling him down.

The girly side that has not seen a conscious, not wounded, half naked man in months just stared.

He smirked at me.

I blinked.

Stupid hormones.

Keep in mind, the people we see in here are usually in hospital gowns or their army fatigues that can be loosened. They're not sweaty, shirtless soldiers in nothing but unbuttoned army pants and a dog tag.

"Um..." GOD DAMN IT THINK.

"You said for me to take my shirt off," he said, taking another sip from his water bottle.

"Right, I know. I'll get you another drink to, um, get your electrolytes in balance," I said and turned around to grab another bottle. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. I tried to calm my breathing quietly so he couldn't hear me. He smiled once I gave the bottle to him, which did not help the fact that my heart was beating even faster. _Calm down, just because you haven't been with a guy in about six months doesn't mean you can act like this._

I moved his dog tag off to the side, and brushed his chest while doing that. I kept my head down as I started to wipe off the sweat. _Now we're getting somewhere._

"You think so, huh?" he said, as he looked at me expectantly.

Oh God, did I say that out loud?

"I mean, now we can get you cooled down. Sweaty shirts don't help in heat." There, that was a good cover...I think.

"Then why are you still wearing one?" he asked.

This man will be the death of me.

"Shut up," I said, and playfully punched his shoulder without thinking. "It's different. I didn't pass out from over working myself."

"Sure," he said sarcastically. "So why are my legs elevated?"

"Helps the blood flow back to your brain," I responded, concentrating on doing my job. As I was wiping his arms, I couldn't help but notice all the tattoos he had. "Fan of the ink, I see?"

"Yeah," he said. When I looked up, he was looking away. I counted them. There were twelve.

"What do they mean?" I asked. "There's gotta be some sort of story behind them. Am I right?"

He shrugged, still looking away. "It's a lot of stuff. Shit with me and my friends, personal stuff..." he trailed off. A hard look came to his face. "Fucked up family..." he paused. I wiped his face one last time. He shrugged and turned to look at me. "All that's for another time, though."

I looked at him curiously. "You say that like you know there's gonna be another time."

"Well, isn't there?" he said with his trademark smile. I couldn't help it; I smiled back. I even laughed a little.

I finished wiping him off and gave him his water bottle. "You've gotta keep hydrated, mister. Don't wanna see you passed out again."

He took another swig from the bottle. I felt his forehead; he was much cooler than before.

"Just get some rest, okay Clarke?" I looked at his dog tag. "Tunny."

He nodded. "You got it, Jones..." he trailed off. "Or should I say..."he looked at me expectantly.

I leaned in closer. "Not yet," I whispered. He groaned. I figured since he teased me last time, I might as well do the same to him. "You've gotta work at it."

"Fuck. Come on, you know mine," he complained, giving me the puppy dog look again.

As I said before, this man is going to be the death of me.

But I was proud of myself for not giving in. I simply shook my head and smirked.

"Can you pass me another towel?" he asked. I had no idea why, but I gave it to him anyway. He leaned up closer to me and wiped the side of my face. I was so caught up in what was happening that I hadn't realized that the heat was getting to me, too. He wasn't the only one sweating.

"You missed a spot."

I stared at him for a long moment, his face so close to mine. It seemed like hours. Neither of us said anything. Finally, I gulped and stepped away.

_Control yourself._

I gave him a nod. "I've...uh..." I struggled, trying to think of something to say.

"Yeah..." he said, as if he knew what I was thinking about. He leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes.

"Just get some rest, okay?" There, that seemed like something valid to say.

"Hey Jones," I heard Anna say as she came in the room. "You mind helping Tina bring in another soldier in? I'm just trying to get Theo to settle down and I can't exactly leave him."

I nodded. I gave him one last look before leaving the room. I had to steady my breathing.

_Breathe. You're on duty. You're only supposed to be tending to soldiers. Nothing more. Breathe._

Once I had gotten my breathing back on track, I heard voices from inside.

"Hey, um...nurse?" I heard Tunny say. For a second I thought he was talking to me, but I knew it couldn't be true. He knew my last name and that I had already left.

"Yes?" It hit me that he was talking to Anna. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Theo, Anna's patient, start to move around more. It looked like he was looking for her.

"What's Jones' name? Her first name, I mean?"

"You don't know?" Oh no, she wouldn't-

"Anna! Anna where are you?" Theo called out.

"Sorry, Theo, I'm coming!" Anna called back before running out of Tunny's room. I heard him groan. I breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't tell him. I went to go help out Tina with bringing another soldier in, but Talia had already beaten me to it.

"Do you need any more help?" I asked them.

"I think we're fine," Tina said.

"Although this one might need Tylenol," said Talia. "He's in worse shape than your soldier boy." I blushed a little when she said that. Thankfully, none of them noticed.

"It's with the soldier I was tending to. I'll get it. I'll meet you guys at this soldier's bed," I said, remembering I had the closest bottle of Tylenol; the others were scattered all around the hospital wing. They nodded and took him to a bed.

I went back to Tunny's room and found him sleeping. I picked up the Tylenol beside him and the towel. I noticed he was starting to sweat again, but not severely. I gently wiped the sweat off the side of his face, not wanting to wake him. He smiled in his sleep. I couldn't help but smile, too. His chest heaved up and down, his well toned body clearly evident. He rolled to his side facing me, his dog tag gently hitting the mattress. I took a small look at it again.

Tunny Clarke.

"Extraordinary..." he muttered in his sleep.

Maybe dealing with this heat wasn't so bad after all.

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><p><strong>I gave you shirtless, sweaty Tunny. I think that deserves a review...right? ...<strong>

**If not, please review anyway!**


	3. Tease

**I AM SO, SO, SO, SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED SOONER! It's just been absolute madness doing two shows at once, balancing other homework and MAJOR auditions. I've been working on this little by little, I'm so sorry I couldn't update sooner, but here it is now! I hope about 9 pages is enough! I swear I'll try and figure out a better way to manage my time, especially since I already planned out the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**Also, my offer still stands if you want to be in the story yourself. Just a reminder for my oh-so-lovely readers who stick with me :D**

**Disclaimer: If I could have it my way, I wouldn't have any other work, I'd have a Tunny for myself, I'd be performing in American Idiot and it would be mine! Alas, it is not.**

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><p><em>I see an empty stage. Only a few lights are on. There are flyers on the ground and knocked over red cups scattered across the floor and tables. It reeks of cigarettes, alcohol and sweat. I shiver. I'm only wearing a t-shirt and ripped jeans. It looks like some rock band must have just finished playing their concert here. There's a drum set, a stool, and an acoustic guitar propped up against it. A single spotlight is lit on the stool. <em>

_I walk closer to the stage. It's abandoned. It doesn't look like anyone is here except for me. I walk up the stairs to the stool and pick up the guitar. It seems unfamiliar in my hands, but...nice at the same time. I strummed it, and the notes echoed off the empty walls of the small, dingy club._

"_Not bad," I heard a voice say. I turned to my right and saw a figure standing in the shadows. I tried to get a closer look as they stepped closer to me. _

_It was Tunny. He approached me into the spotlight with a smile on his face. He was wearing his army pants, tank top and dog tag. His tattoos were visible, and he held something small in his hand. _

"_Give it a bit more practice and I know you'll get better," he said to me, holding his hand out for the guitar. I gave it to him. He sat down on the stool, making space between his legs. He held out his other hand to me. I took it. It felt...right. He led me to sit in between the space his legs, but still on the stool. He guided my left hand on the neck of the guitar and my right hand near the sound hole._

"_Open your right hand," he said, which I did. In it, he gently placed a small, black guitar pick. I smiled and held it in my hand. He put both of his hands over mine, placing a small kiss on my right hand. He moved the fingers of my left hand over the frets on the guitar to play a chord and slowly started to strum with my right hand. He gently moved my fingers again to play another chord and strummed with my hands again. He played these two chords over and over in the same rhythm until I started getting the hang of it. It was a nice tune, pretty catchy. We played those two chords together, and eventually he started to softly sing in my ear._

"_She's an extraordinary girl, in an ordinary world."_

_I stopped for a moment once he finished singing. He laid his head on my shoulder and I turned to look at him. He put the guitar down and turned me around so I was standing between his legs._

"_Well, are you going to say anything?" he asked me, absentmindedly playing with my hands. _

"_I never knew you could play guitar," I replied, smiling. "I've always wanted to learn."_

"_Wish granted," he said, pulling me in closer. I started playing with his dog tag._

"_Well, Clarke. I'm all ears," I said smiling._

"_All ears or all yours?" he asked, with a smile on his face. He put his hands on my hips to bring me even closer. I put my arms around his neck._

"_Both," I whispered, and leaned in. He first tenderly kissed my neck. I sighed happily; I haven't had this feeling in a long time. I let my fingers run over his tattoos as he gently kissed his way up my neck. I lifted my hand to touch his face. He kissed the palm of my hand before leaning in to kiss my lips. He knelt his forehead against mine, and I could feel his minty breath on my face. I couldn't take it anymore. I finally went to close the gap between us-_

"UP AND AT'EM LADIES! Jones, get up now!"

Damn it.

I woke up, sweating, my heart beating faster than it should have.

I am so screwed.

"Jonesy, come on, it's breakfast!"

I didn't realize I was the last one to wake up. I quickly made my bed and changed faster than I ever had before. I fixed my ponytail as I headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

What the hell was with that dream? I mean an empty club of all places, him in his army clothes...which did nothing to hide his body. I shook my head. Why he, out of all people, showed up in my dream, I have no idea. He was singing a song, nonetheless, too. But I have to admit, it sounded like a nice song. And the way his lips felt on my skin-

"Jonesy!"

Apparently, nobody allows me to dream anymore.

"Jonesy, getting a little red there, are ya?" Jen asked as she came beside me. "What's going on in that noggin of yours?"

"Huh?" I asked as we entered the mess hall together.

"You were blushing like there's no tomorrow. And nobody came up to you or anything so it must've been something you were thinking about," she said as she grabbed trays for the both of us.

God, I feel like a little schoolgirl.

"It's nothing. It's just the heat," I tried to cover up.

"The temperature's gone way down for the past couple days. We're not in a full blown heat wave like a few days ago," she said, both of us getting our food. "It must be something you're thinking about," she said, playfully tapping my head.

"Relax, Jen, it's nothing," I replied, trying to find a place for us to sit. "Hey there, Call," I greeted to Sergeant Call who came back from throwing something in the trash. He smiled and nodded at us before opening his mouth to say something.

Suddenly, I heard fast footsteps behind us. Before I knew it, Jen and I were pulled apart by two people as one excited soldier came running down the aisle to meet his friends at the table.

"GUYS GUYS, I got mail! I got a letter from her!" the excited soldier said.

"Peacock, you might wanna wait to see who's in the aisle before running them over, huh?" I heard someone else say. I looked and saw Jen pulled away by Sergeant Call with his good arm. Surprisingly, both of our trays of food seemed relatively unharmed. She looked just as confused as I felt. She shrugged, then smirked at me before taking another bite out of her apple. I still felt extremely confused, but realized I was still in the arms of someone else. I looked back to see who it was that had "saved" me.

Of course, it would be dream boy.

Tunny.

"Sorry, I just saw Chase running like mad and figured I should get you out of the way before some big collision happened," he said to me.

I was all of a sudden very aware of the fact that his arms were around my waist. And that I was right up against him. He held me close. Very close.

Talk about a wakeup call.

"Yeah, um..." I trailed off.

See, this is what mornings and soldiers do to me.

"Thanks," I said.

"Heya, Call, thanks!" I snapped out of my thoughts and saw Jen across from me facing Sergeant Call. She wasn't nearly as close to a soldier as I was.

"No problem, Jen," he said, giving her a high five as they started their secret handshake. Jen and Call had practically become siblings since he broke his arm. She seemed perfectly at ease with her saviour.

I, on the other hand, was still in the arms of my soldier who didn't seem in a rush to let go.

"Jonesy, I understand you're very comfortable like that, but you might wanna sit down to eat," she said, smirking, before giving a subtle wink to Call who just laughed. I hurriedly stepped out of his arms to her, hoping the blush would disappear from my face.

"Why don't you ladies sit with us? We've got room," Call said, scooting over to make room beside him for Jen. I could've sworn I saw him gesture to Tunny to do the same.

"It's the least we could do since Peacock over there practically ran you two over," he said, taking my hand and leading me to sit down. Jen already made herself comfortable and was eating. I decided I should probably do the same. I sat down beside Tunny and tried to control my reactions while eating my eggs. As I tried to hide my blush while eating breakfast, I could've sworn I saw Tunny look over at me a few times as if he wanted to say something.

"So Chase, what was that big commotion about that you had to practically run over these ladies here?" said Call. The soldier, I guess his name was Chase, was so wrapped up in his letter that he missed everything that just happened. He was so engulfed in his letter with a goofy smile on his face. It wasn't until another soldier (I should probably learn their names) threw a grape at him that he finally looked up.

"Declan, what was that for?" he said.

"You almost knocked out two girls here-" Tunny started to say.

"And their food-" someone cut off (I'm assuming it was Declan). I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"And you don't even bother to say anything?" Tunny continued. I saw Chase look over at the both of us, and suddenly realize what he had missed.

"Oh God, I am so sorry ladies. I swear, I didn't mean to," he said, grabbing our hands. "My sincere apologies," he said before letting go and picking up his letter.

"It's okay," I said.

"You were clearly preoccupied," I heard Jen say beside me. As I was eating my eggs, I felt something brush up against my leg. I looked down and found Tunny's left leg against mine, lightly nudging it occasionally. I subtly looked out through the corner of my eye toward him, but found him acting as though nothing happened. That little sneak. As I took a sip from my drink, I slowly grazed my right foot up to around his left knee and down again to see if he got any reaction out of that.

He proceeded to choke on his piece of toast and started coughing loudly.

I smirked.

Two can play at this game.

"You alright, Clarke?" Declan said to Tunny, patting him on the back.

"Yeah," Tunny said. "Just gotta remember not to chew more than I can handle." I almost jumped a little when I felt his left hand go on my knee and started to make little circles with his fingers. "Gotta work my way up before I get to the bigger bites," he said as he slowly-_very slowly_- moved his fingers up my leg.

I quickly looked over at him. He went back to eating his eggs, but not before giving me the subtlest wink I had ever seen. He kept his hand on my knee, continuing making circles on my thigh, occasionally giving it a squeeze.

God damn it. It never ends.

Luckily, the conversation turned back to Chase who was still engulfed in his letter.

"Must have been a _very _good letter, huh?" one of the other soldiers said to Chase, nudging him in the shoulder. Chase only proceeded to smile again.

"It's from my girl back home. Carly," he said as a happy, loving smile illuminated his face. I couldn't help but smile, too. I could've sworn I heard Jen say "aww." The other soldiers laughed and teased him in a joking way.

"Your girlfriend begging you to come home, C-man? Saying how much she 'needs you with her' or something like that?" Tunny said. As he said that, he changed from making circles to gently grazing one finger around my knee, making its way to about mid thigh, then going back down again. Fuck.

"No!" Chase said defensively, not noticing anything different, thank goodness. "It's my fiancé telling me she has amazing news for me," he said.

"NO WAY!" Call said, leaning over to pat Chase on his back. "You didn't tell us you were engaged already!"

"Well I'm not yet. But I know she'll be my fiancé soon. As soon as I get back home, I'm getting down on one knee. Already bought the ring and everything," he said, smiling again as he drank some orange juice.

"You say that like you know she's gonna marry you," another soldier- I think it was Theo- said to him.

"We've been together three years, she'll say yes!" Chase said, his tone getting defensive and serious. "We've talked about it, too."

"And-"

"Well the last time we talked about it, a month before I left, she said she would be crazy not to have me in her life after everything. It's just a matter of actually doing it now."

"When do you get to go home?" I couldn't help but ask.

He smiled at me. "Forty-one days. I've been counting."

"How do you plan to propose?" Jen asked, slapping away Call's hand as he tried to sneak a piece of her biscuit.

"How?" Chase asked dumbfoundedly.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" I asked, finishing off my eggs.

"What's there to figure out?" Tunny asked, leaning in closer to me, but focusing his attention on the conversation.

Ugh, men. Don't know how to deal in these situations.

All of a sudden, I felt Tunny's left hand disappear and be replaced by his right hand going on my leg as he leaned on his left arm. He started making circles again.

He is going to be the death of me.

"How do you plan to propose? Dinner? Take her someplace nice? Have a stay at home date?" Jen kept asking. The soldiers were looking at us as if they had no clue what we were talking about.

Oh my.

"Okay, here's the thing," I said to Chase before checking the clock on the wall. "Jen and I have about ten minutes before we head back to the hospital wing for our shift. But, you come and find us at some point during the day and talk to us about your proposal. That's definitely something you don't want to mess up."

"What makes you think I'll mess up?" Chase asked innocently.

"You don't exactly wing a proposal. Unless you want to be risky, which really isn't the place you should be doing it," Jen said.

"So what should you do? Have a big romantic set up of some sort?" I heard Declan say.

"Depends on the girl," I replied.

"Hey," I heard Call say in a very protective tone, pointing right at Declan. "You're not getting any ideas, are you?" he said to him. Declan just raised his hands in surrender and shook his head. I looked over at Tunny to ask him what that was about.

"Declan's dating Andrew's little sister, Annabelle," he confirmed, stealing a grape off my plate while doing so. I playfully slapped his shoulder while he just smiled innocently at me.

"And he better not be getting any ideas," Call said, sipping his coffee.

I stood up, grabbing my tray to put it away. "Talk to us, we'll talk you through everything."

"Thanks, girls," Chase said. "I appreciate that, trust me," he paused a bit before speaking again. "I just realized, I don't even know your names. Who do I ask for if I stop by the hospital wing?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tunny perk up at this question.

"I'm Jen and-"

"Name's Jones," I cut off before Jen could say any more. I couldn't let her say anything about that yet. I looked over at Tunny who was giving me the puppy dog eyes again.

Okay, I thought I was over this. Judging by my increasing heartbeat, clearly not.

"Awesome. See you girls later," Chase said, turning his attention back to his letter.

"Bye, boys," Jen said as we went to put our trays away. We walked out of the mess hall, going over the morning so far.

"We should eat with them more often," I said, smoothing out my pants; Tunny's hands did leave a little bit of a mark on the ironed clothing. Jen was retying her ponytail when she nodded and responded.

"For sure. Now how do we help lover boy with his proposal?" I heard a snap beside me. "Great," Jen said as she threw her broken elastic in the trash. "Do you have another hair elastic?" I shook my head and showed her my blank wrists.

"They always have extras by the desk," I said, adjusting my ponytail.

"Yeah, but Leslie's already on my case about not being prepared. I have about five minutes, I can make it back in time if I run to the bunks, right?"

I shrugged. "I guess." I saw her start to run to the bunks as I turned to go the hospital wing.

"Jones," I heard someone say and felt goosebumps on my neck. It could only be one person who could do that to me. I turned around.

"Yes, Tunny?" I said, crossing my arms.

"You know, it's really nice what you're doing. You know for Chase," he said as he approached me.

"Did Chase tell you to come up and tell me?" I said in a teasing tone. He shook his head as he came closer to me.

"No, I just..." he trailed off, his finger grazing my arm, but holding my gaze. "Thought it needed to be said." I looked around before responding. I had to make sure we were alone.

"You know, it wasn't funny what you did at breakfast. That whole knee thing, were you trying to distract me?" I said in a bit of a hushed tone.

"Why do you think I did it?" he said, giving me his trademark smile again. He moved his fingers from grazing my arm to holding my hand. "Had to get your attention somehow," he said, slowly moving us. "Also, it was fun," he shrugged and I felt my back hit the wall with a gentle thud. He placed his hands on the wall on either side of my head. He leaned in a little before giving me another smile. I smiled back, and even laughed a little before meeting his gaze again.

He was so close to me. I bit my lip, and looked away. I didn't know what to say. I felt his hand come under my chin to move my face to his.

"I didn't get to thank you for helping me the other day. You know, when I passed out?" he said, moving one hand to my hip.

I shrugged. "It's my job. I'm not going to leave anyone helpless like that."

He looked a little hurt by my words. "So am I just...anyone to you?" he asked, slightly tightening his grip on my hip, his eyes not leaving mine. Before I could really understand what I was doing or stop it, I raised my hand to gently touch his face, like I had in my dream. I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks as the images in my dream came back to me. "You're adorable," he gently murmured as he saw that and smiled. I scoffed.

"No," I said. He looked a little confused.

"Huh?" he said, his green eyes puzzled.

"No..." I trailed off. "You're not just anyone to me," I whispered. I wasn't even going to deny the fact that I wanted him. I wanted him more than anything in that moment. He moved his head to gently kiss my palm. He kissed it again, this time, his eyes meeting mine. I could see desire in his eyes. I gently placed my hands on his neck and held his gaze, not saying anything. We didn't need to.

"Oh God, you two, can't you wait till we're off duty or something before you go all PDA on us?" I heard someone say.

Fuck. Not again.

I quickly broke away from Tunny, much to my displeasure. Jen was standing there, hair in a ponytail, with a smirk on her face. I saw Sergeant Call coming out of the mess hall, and go to stand beside Jen.

"You guys really need to control your urges. Seriously," he said, which made me turn redder than I already was. "You couldn't have waited until you were off duty? I mean, it's just the morning!" he said, shaking his head in a mocking way, along with Jen.

"Come on, lovebirds!" she said, laughing before heading to the hospital wing. Call gave a nod to Tunny and walked away, leaving the two of us alone again. I sighed and turned to Tunny again. I didn't know what to say.

"What time can I see you?" he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"We don't have breaks at the same time, I know that," I replied, facing him. He shook his head, rubbing his neck with his hand. I waited for a bit before responding. He stepped closer again, a waiting look on his face.

"Well..." he trailed off, lightly grabbing my hand.

"Find me at 9:00," I breathed out. "I'll be near the front desk."

He nodded, bending his head to kiss my cheek. He grazed his lips against my cheek to my ear and whispered, "I'll see you tonight then." He broke away, gave me a wink and went to follow Sergeant Call. I lightly touched the places where his lips had been.

Screw duty.

I'd rather have him.

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><p><strong>Next chapter, you will find out her name...and a long awaited moment...but not if you don't review! You get a baked good of your choice AND a stuffed Green Day bear with a guitar, because I've been so bad with updating, if you review! :)<strong>


	4. Date Night

**MY BIGGEST APOLOGIES READERS! :( I think I've figured out a few reasons why I never update regularly. **

**1) I'm a perfectionist.**

**2) I write A LOT. (This chapter was 14 pages)**

**3) I think there are some chapters (because I have this entire story planned out in my head) that I'm more motivated to write than others, or am more nervous to write about. This was a "nervous chapter" so I kept shoving this aside.**

**4) I've started doing lots of auditions which basically means even less time on top of school work.**

**I haven't forgotten about this! I tend to write chapters little by little. So, my amazing readers who stick by me even when they think I abandoned this story, would you prefer that I update more frequently with shorter chapters or update as much as I can (which, very well, could be once a week to once a month) but give you nice, long chapters with detail? It's up to you. Let me know in a review! **

**Okay enough rambling, here's the next chapter. Hope you like. Beware, this chapter is about 14 pages long. And this chapter is rated T cause there's some action going on here ;)**

**Disclaimer: American Idiot, Y U NO MINE? You get the idea.**

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><p>8:57.<p>

3 minutes.

"Jonesy, calm yourself," Jen said to me. "Staring at the clock isn't going to help."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I responded. "I'm just filling out this form for Gallagher over there," I said, trying to keep my cool. I nodded toward the other room where a new soldier lay with a broken wrist.

"Is that why you've written the date in the name box about fourteen times?" she asked, looking at the form on the desk. It was true. I wrote the date in the name box at least ten times. She cleared her throat, waiting for a response.

"It's been a long day," I said, grabbing another form. She took the form and the pen out of my hands.

"Let me do it, your mind is clearly somewhere else," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. I laughed.

"It totally isn't! I'm completely concentrated on my work," I said, glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time since 8:00 hit.

8:58.

2 minutes.

I sighed, looking out the doorway again.

"Yeah...sure..." Jen trailed off, filling out the form quickly and efficiently. "Look, why don't you just go? You've been working tirelessly the entire day. Leslie even said so. You have two minutes till you're off, nobody's gonna notice, just go! You know you want to!"

She knows me too well.

I've been trying to distract myself with work since this morning... when I almost got caught.

Well, _we_ almost got caught.

I tried not to remember Tunny lightly grazing my leg at breakfast, or the gentle touch of his fingers on my cheek. I tried to forget how close we had gotten, how his face was inches away from mine. How his lips felt against my hand, on my cheek, his tingly whisper that rang through my ears the entire day. I tried to stop thinking about how his hands held me closer to him and how his eyes always held my gaze, with passion, lust, desire-

_*snap_*

"Oh, girl, you are so gone," Jen said to me after snapping me out of my trance.

She's always right.

"I'm fine, I swear!" I said, tidying up the desk a bit. "Just have to concentrate, that's all I need!" I started to file away the papers, humming the tune I heard from my dream. I looked over at Jen. She had her arms crossed, tapping her foot.

"Concentrate on what?" she said, in a teasing tone.

"Work, obviously!" I replied, looking at the clock again.

8:59.

Oh fuck, he was going to be here soon.

"You sure about that?" she said, grabbing my hands to make me stop fidgeting. "What's on your mind right now?" she said looking me straight in the eyes.

I took a moment to pause before I answered. "I want to rest. I've done a lot of work today." It was the truth. Bandaged up quite a few soldiers, washed off a lot of wounds, filled out more forms than I would've liked, tidied up the back rooms, ran a couple of errands for the head nurses, and a bunch of other stuff. Chase even stopped by for two minutes to talk to me and Jen about what needs to happen for his proposal. He gave us a good idea of his relationship with Carly so we could figure out what she'd like.

"No," Jen said, giving my shoulder a little shake. "What is the only thing going on in your mind right now? Don't take a moment or anything. What is on your mind?" she said looking me straight in the eyes.

"Food," I said, trying to fool her and not answering right away. I hadn't eaten too much during the day. She scoffed at me.

"You're not listening!" she said, lightly elbowing me. She took me and faced me away from the clock above the door, but kept me so that I was still facing her.

"Okay, take a deep breath and close your eyes." I did what she said.

"Completely blank your mind of everything," I felt her hands move to my shoulder. "Don't think about anything that happened during the day. Just relax. And breathe." I inhaled and exhaled, trying to blank my thoughts so I could just hear her voice, which seemed to be getting further away from everything. "Breathe in all the happy thoughts and positive energy and breathe out all the stress and any bad thoughts that have crossed your mind." Of course Jen, the yoga and dance teacher, would talk about energy and breathing. Her hands started lightly massaging my shoulders (I suppose to get the stress out). "Now take a moment, and I want you to answer immediately after I ask you this question. What is on your mind?"

"Tunny," I said right away, my eyes still closed.

"Yes?" I heard his voice say, very close to me. I shot my eyes open.

He was right in front of me. His were the hands on my shoulders. He smiled his trademark smile at me.

I was still in shock.

"Uh-" I tried to say something.

"Hi," he said, his hands going down from my shoulders to my waist.

"Hi," I breathed out, turning to look at the clock.

9:00. Right on time.

I turned to where Jen was standing in the opposite corner. She must've seen Tunny coming in and brought him in when she faced me away from the door and told me to close my eyes.

"Bye!" she said enthusiastically, and ran to the other room.

Sneak.

I turned back to find Tunny smiling at me.

I all of a sudden became aware of where I was. I was alone in a room with the guy who's been running through my head the entire day (okay, maybe more than that). He was right in front of me, hands on my waist waiting for me to say something. It was 9:00, which meant that I was off duty. I know he was, too. So we couldn't get in trouble.

"Tunny," I softly said with a smile on my face. He knelt his forehead against mine, bringing me a little closer to him. I couldn't stand it anymore. I put my hands on either side of his face and pulled his lips toward mine.

Dear God, I don't know why I didn't do that sooner.

His lips were slow and gentle, yet passionate and longing for more at the same time. They were warm, soft; our lips just fit together, as cheesy as that sounds. My hands went from his face down his neck and shoulders to his arms. I pulled him closer, if that were possible. I crushed my lips against his even more; the simple brush of the lips before wasn't nearly enough. His tongue managed to find its way in my mouth, and I gladly let it.

All of a sudden, he picked me up and sat me down on the desk so we were at the same height. I giggled into the kiss; I was not expecting that. One of his hands made its way from my waist down my hip to my thigh, and started softly massaging it. I couldn't help the moan that came from my mouth; I haven't felt this good kissing a guy in months. I felt him smile into the kiss before breaking apart to breathe.

I really wish he didn't do that. But I suppose breathing is important, or whatever.

I had a goofy smile on my face and I knew it. But I really didn't care. And from the looks of it, he didn't either. He bent his head down to my neck and gently kissed it while we caught our breath. I brought him closer to me so he stood between my legs. I hated the loss of contact, and having him so close to me just felt so...right.

I pulled his face to mine to kiss him again. He laughed a little before saying something.

"A little eager, are we?" he whispered against my lips, before kissing me again.

"More than," I whispered back. I kissed him before speaking. "I've been waiting for this," I softly said between kisses. I couldn't get enough of him.

"Mmm," he moaned lightly. "Me, too," he said. As he kissed me again, I could feel something more. It was more intense than the first time; I could feel heat between us. I wanted more than what we were doing now, and I know he wanted the same. One of his hands was still massaging my thigh, but the other went up to my hair to take it out of its ponytail. He started running his fingers through it as his tongue battled with mine. I brought him right up against me and wrapped my legs around his waist. My hands started to go up his shirt, where I could feel his _very _toned body under my fingers. I happily sighed. I lifted his shirt a little bit so it was more out of the way. My fingers started roaming his body, his abs, his back, his chest, _his body_ from under his shirt. He stopped and broke apart from me.

"Baby," he started to say. I wasn't aware he started calling me that already.

"What, you don't like that?" I asked, looking at him confused.

"Oh no, I love that," he said with a smile. "If you keep doing that, I'm not gonna be able to control myself...if you know what I mean." I did, and started to blush. It made me a little happy that I could have that effect on him. I giggled a little and nodded. I really hate how much I've been giggling lately.

"I do, and I can see that." In fact, I started to feel it, considering he was standing right between my legs that there was no space between us.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself, and paused before saying something else. "We can do that all you want," he said with a wink and started to say something else. I laughed, probably too loud, cutting him off. If Alysha or Leslie heard him say that, he'd be dead. He seemed to know what I was thinking. "But not here," he said. "We'll get caught. I'm surprised nobody has come already."

"They're near the back of the wing. And there aren't a lot of them on duty right now," I replied. "But I get what you mean." There was really no place for us to be alone together. We were lucky nobody had caught us yet.

"Libby, where did you say they were?" I heard a nurse's voice getting closer to us. I started to break apart from him. Instead, he took me off the desk, and held me in his arms, so I was facing him.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I didn't want to be caught like this.

"I still have a little bit of a...problem," he said, looking embarrassed. I smirked a little. I suppose this position would be a little less awkward than the one before.

Someone came into the room. I turned around, and sighed. It was only Jen. If it was anyone else, we'd probably get into a shitload of trouble.

"Are you two still here?" she asked, going to get something from the desk drawer. "I thought you'd be making out in a secluded corner or something."

"We probably would be, if there was a secluded place for us to go to," Tunny said, and I felt his chin rest on my head. "Would you be willing to help us?" he asked Jen. Even though I couldn't really see his face, I knew he was trying to give the puppy dog eyes, probably hoping it would have a similar effect on her than it did on me.

Unfortunately for him, Jen's a lot tougher than I am. "Look, lover boy, it's not my job to find a place for you two to fuck- Jonesy, don't you dare try and deny it," she said, cutting me off before I could say anything. I felt my face getting redder, and I knew Tunny was smirking, or laughing or something.

"Please, Jen?" I pleaded. I knew if I asked, there would be more of a chance of her helping us. She sighed.

"On one condition," she said, looking straight at me.

"Sure," I replied.

"You have to admit it."

I was confused by this question. "Admit what?"

"Admit why you really came here. Remember what we were talking about a couple of days ago? And you wouldn't really admit it? Do it now, and I'll help you," Jen said with an evil smile on her face.

"Wait, admit what?" I heard Tunny ask.

"Really, Jen?" I asked her. I hadn't even said it out loud once.

"Do it," she said in a sing-song voice.

Tunny turned me around to face him and opened his mouth to say something before being cut off by Jen.

"Uh, uh, uh, I have to see her reaction and her answer, too," she said, making herself comfortable and sitting on the desk. I shot her a look. She smirked and nodded. "Go ahead. Jonesy, why did you decide to enlist? And be honest! I want none of that 'I'm actually a good person and I have good intentions' kind of crap."

I groaned. "I wanted to come home with a hot soldier because I'm lonely and I have a thing for guys in uniform. There you happy?" I asked her.

"Why are you lonely?"

"Jesus, Jen-"

"Answer!"

"Because I haven't been with a guy in six months! I haven't gotten any in a long time and it sucks!"

Tunny laughed and let go of me. I covered my face with my hands; I had said that louder than I intended.

"Really now?" Tunny asked, looking a little surprised.

"Yes," I admitted. "Jen, are you happy now?" She shrugged.

"That'll do," she said passively.

"Now, can you please help us?" I asked. That little sneak.

"Sure thing, Jonesy. I'm just trying to think of where exactly you could go where there isn't a risk of getting caught."

"Is there a room free, by any chance?" Tunny asked.

"Nah. Besides, you'd have to make your way past the nurses without being inconspicuous and that's pretty hard to do. Alysha's got eyes like a hawk."

"A closet?" Geez, Tunny had clearly thought of this before.

"Too many supplies. And it's near the back."

"Jen, you know this place better than I do," I said. "Where did you go when you hooked up with-"

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" Jen almost yelled. She came right up to me and whispered, "That was supposed to be a secret."

"Sorry!" I whispered back. "I forgot."

Tunny coughed from beside me. "Umm...what? Jen, is there something you haven't been telling us?"

"No, lover boy, just haven't told you," she snapped back. She sighed. "Okay fine, there is a place you can go. But I'm telling you only if you _promise _you don't tell him about _that_," she told me, and pointed at Tunny.

"Done," I said, and we shook on it.

"Down the hall, there's the storage room where we keep spare blankets and pillows."

"But nurses use that all the time. Even I've been there," I replied, a little confused. I figured that was a place where we would definitely get caught.

"But I bet you've never noticed the hidden door, have you?"

"What?"

She stepped closer to us and lowered her voice. "You know that shelving unit that holds a bunch of our back up towels and emergency first aid kits? There's a door hidden behind there.

"There's a door?"

"Yeah, it's hidden pretty well, huh? It's a small door, but you guys can definitely fit there. That's the room that was meant for emergencies, last minute resort stuff, but we have so much storage space already, we figured we didn't need it. Besides, why would you have the emergency things in such an inconvenient spot?"

"True..." I trailed off.

"There may be a few things in there, but that room is mostly empty. Not many people know it's there. I only know it because I was moving stuff around with Libby and Leslie a few weeks ago and they told me. When you go there, make sure both doors are closed; the little one doesn't have a lock on it, so you should be fine. The door also opens _into_ the room, so you can pull the shelving unit in before you close the door. That unit's really light, so there'll be no trouble moving it. Plus, you've got lover boy here to move that thing for you."

"You've used this room before, haven't you?" Tunny asked her.

"Yes I have," she admitted. "Anything else?"

I hugged her as tight as I could. "Thanks Jen! I owe you."

"Just keep up your end of the deal, okay?"

"Of course," I replied, and took Tunny's hand and started to leave.

"One more thing!" Jen said before we left. "You might wanna be a little less obvious. Just a hint," she said with a smile. I immediately let go of his hand and Tunny chuckled. I looked over at him. "And for goodness sake, Jonesy, fix your hair! It's a mess. Clarke, I know you like her, but next time someone is about to walk in on you, try and make it a little less obvious of what you two were doing before."

"I'll try and keep my hands off of her...some of the time." He gave a subtle wink to me.

"You better not hurt her, soldier, or you'll have to deal with me," Jen sternly said to Tunny. He saluted her, and shook her hand like a gentleman. "Okay, seriously, you two, go," she told us.

"Thanks," Tunny and I said at the same time. We went into the hallway and started walking towards the closet.

"I'll go in first, follow me after a few seconds so it doesn't look suspicious," I whispered to Tunny.

"But nobody's here," he whispered back.

"Just to be safe," I told him before walking faster to get to the storage room. It was locked. I tried a few times, but the door wouldn't budge. I groaned as Tunny came behind me.

"What happened?" he asked, wrapping his arms around me.

"They must've locked it up for the night," I told him. The nurses usually lock it up after a certain time and grabbing only what they think they'll really need. "And I think Libby has the key."

"Damn..." he said, leaning his head on my shoulder. "I was really looking forward to going in there," he whispered in my ear. I shuddered.

"Okay, seriously, you have to stop doing that when we're not alone," I told him, turning my head. He kissed my neck and opened his mouth before I could object.

"Well, we are," he said, and moved me so I was against the wall. "Look around." I did, and he was right. I couldn't see any other people in the hall, and couldn't hear much else, either. He kissed me again, and I wasn't going to complain about that. I kissed him back, his tongue slipping easily into my mouth. I brought him close to me and my hands went up his arms to rest on his shoulders. His hands went down to my waist, one of them slowly drifting lower down my hips. I wanted him. Just him. And judging from the way he was kissing me back, he wanted me, too.

I broke away to breathe. "Tunny, we should-uh-probably wait," I said breathlessly. He started kissing down my neck, and that didn't help with me trying to use words. "Someone could easily catch us, you know that." I brought his face up to look at him. He nodded, trying to catch his breath. He grabbed my hand and we started walking.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It doesn't look bad if we're just going to the mess hall. Who said we have to be doing anything? We could just be talking," he said, stepping closer to me. "Besides, we should really learn to control ourselves shouldn't we?" he quietly said in my ear. I smiled and nodded as I opened the door to the mess hall. It was pretty deserted. I only saw one soldier writing a letter at a table in the corner.

"Hey Jimmy, how you doing?" Tunny asked the soldier. He smiled and looked up from his letter.

"I'm great, Clarke. Got a letter from my wife this morning," he said before smiling even bigger. "I'm a proud papa of a little girl!" he said, joyfully laughing. I couldn't help but smile, too.

"No way, your wife had the baby?" Tunny asked as he went to clap the soldier on his back.

"Yeah. Little Sadie Day," said the soldier, happiness crossing his face. It was clear he was waiting for this. "I can't wait to get back home and meet her. I'm out of here in two weeks."

"You'll be out soon, and there'll be a little girl at home waiting for you," I couldn't help but say. He just looked so happy.

"Thanks, ma'am. You two wanna see a picture?" he asked us.

"Of course!" I said, as he took out the picture.

"That's my little girl," he proudly said. She had dark hair, and a cute little nose and mouth. She was sleeping, so we couldn't see her eyes, but she was adorable.

"She's so cute," I cooed.

"She's precious," I heard Tunny say.

"Thanks," he said, gazing at the picture. "I can't wait to meet her."

"We'll let you get back to writing your letter. Give your wife and kid their best for me, okay?" Tunny told him.

"And congratulations. I better not see you in the hospital wing soon; you've got a little one to go home to."

The soldier smiled at us. "Will do." He went back to his letter as Tunny and I went to go sit at a table further away.

"That's so great for him," I said. Tunny sat across from me.

"I know, he's been so anxious to get back. I'm happy for him," he replied. As he spoke, the soldier- I believe his name was Jimmy- got up from the table. He said goodnight to us and left the room so we were alone. I smiled at Tunny. He grabbed my hands, and started playing started playing with my legs with his from under the table.

"Not what I pictured for a first date, but this'll have to do," he told me.

"First date?" I asked. "You'd consider this a first date? I mean, you've actually thought about it?" I asked. This surprised me.

"Yeah, why what were you expecting?"

"You're telling me that if we hadn't met back home or something, you would take me out on a real date and not just take me back to your place for the entire night?"

"Yeah!" he said, playfully looking offended. "I was not raised like that! I am still a bit of a gentleman," he said leaning in. "I'd take you home after our date and we can spend as much time as you like there," he said with his signature wink and smile.

"I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be complaining about that at all," I softly said, playing with his hands. "But-" I said, sitting upright again. "What would we do on our first date? I wanna hear this." He smiled.

"Well, if you were expecting some big fancy dinner at some upscale restaurant, you're wrong. We'd probably go to a smaller bar and grill restaurant, casual thing- I don't do fancy."

"I figured," I said. "But I like that. As long as there's barbeque, I'm good with that." He smiled, as if that was exactly the answer he was looking for.

"Good. After dinner, we'd probably just go around my neighbourhood, make a stop at 7/11. We'd probably run into the usual suspects," he said with a smile. I could tell he was thinking of home as he was talking, and it made me happy. "I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into Will and Johnny, my best friends, goofing off at the 7/11 or hear them jamming on the street."

"That sounds awesome."

"I wouldn't hang around them for too long, though. They'd probably be drunk or high or something and interrogate us. I don't want you to be too freaked out by my friends...yet. That's for later."

"So you're saying there's gonna be a 'later' then?" I said with a smile. He smiled back.

"Of course," he said, pausing to hold my gaze for a little longer. "I'd want you to meet my friends, but then I'd take you back to my place. If you wanted, we could pop in a movie or something," he said. He reached to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. "But if it were up to me, we wouldn't bother with that. The night of the first date, you'd be all mine." I quietly, but happily, sighed.

"You're right," I said.

"About what?" he asked.

"This was definitely not what you pictured." We were in the mess hall on an army base at about 9:30 at night. There were soldiers fighting on the battlefield, resting soldiers and nurses and restless nurses who were with the wounded. For God's sake, there were soldiers that are not too far from where we were sitting and are probably dying or severely injured. Everyone on this base is fighting for something and fighting to make it back home alive and not severely scarred in one way or the other.

And we were "having a date" basically talking about how sexually frustrated we are and that we really want to be appropriately alone together.

Clearly we have our priorities straight.

"Well, that first date does sound great. And if we weren't where we are now, I'd be more than happy to go on it with you," I said with a smile.

"Where are you from, by the way?" he asked me.

"Berkeley, California. Born and raised," I told him. He laughed.

"No kidding."

"You?"

"Little place called Jingletown," he said with a smile. I knew the place very well.

"You're one of the starving artists?" I said, smiling back. I would've never guessed. He nodded.

"Yeah. I learned how to play guitar from this street artist when I was ten."

"You play guitar?" I asked, remembering my dream from this morning.

"Yeah. I'm glad they let me bring it after I finished training and got deployed. It's a nice little comfort."

"I've always wanted to learn..." I said before I could stop myself.

"I'll teach you," he said, climbing to sit on the table. "It's not that hard. It takes some practice, but you'll pick it up," he said, patting the space beside him so I could sit with him. He started miming playing a guitar. I looked at his hands while he did. It all seemed to come so naturally to him.

"Would you really teach me?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said and smiled. He lowered his voice when he spoke again. "Some tricky fingering, but that comes easy after a while," he said as one hand started to draw circles on my thigh again.

"Oh really," I said, slyly looking at him. He brought his lips to my ear.

"It just comes naturally after a while," he said teasingly, starting to kiss down my cheek again. I breathed out; I keep forgetting to properly breathe around him.

"You're such a tease," I said, playfully pushing him away. He laughed.

"You could just not resist, you know?" he said, giving me the puppy dog look again.

Fuck.

"Trust me, I don't-" he cut me off with a kiss.

"Then don't," he said against my lips, kissing me again. He put his hands on my hips and moved me so that I was facing him. He moved so he was kneeling and I put my legs on either side of him so he could be closer to me. He held me in his arms as we kissed. My hands started to move under his shirt again. I pushed his shirt up again, further this time. He slowly lowered me so my weight was on my elbows and he was on top of me.

Oh my, he was on top of me.

"Tunny," I said in a bit of a warning tone. He stopped.

"What, are we going too fast?" he asked, looking a little worried. Since when were soldiers such gentlemen?

"No, it's not that..." I said, trailing off. "Okay, maybe we are going kind of fast if you think about it. But anyone could walk in on us." He looked around and so did I. Time and place didn't seem to matter much when I was with him. But when you realize you were basically about to have sex on a table in a mess hall on an army base, you know something's wrong.

"Yeah, I guess," he said, getting off me and straightening out his clothes. I ran my fingers through my hair to try and make it look like less of a mess. I looked at the clock; we technically should have been in our bunks by now.

"We should probably..." I trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Yeah," he finished. He paused for a few seconds before saying anything else. "I guess it's actually kind of a good thing we didn't get that far tonight."

"What makes you say that?" I asked. Not two minutes before, we were both eager.

"Well...are you on birth control by any chance?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "I see what you mean. Do you have-"

"No," he answered.

"So does that mean...we can't..."

"I'm sure someone has them around here someone. I mean, Jen wouldn't have hooked up with someone if there wasn't any, right?" he said.

"Okay, you have to _promise _you won't tell anyone about that!" I told him, getting off of the table.

"I promise I won't," he said and stuck out his pinky. "Pinky swear and seal it with a kiss," he said, his boyish smile coming back to his face. I smiled back, pinky swore, and quickly kissed him. "Will you tell me who it was with?" he asked.

"Nope. That's part of our deal with Jen, so I can't tell you," I told him.

"Fine," he said, getting off of the table, too. He took my hand. "I should probably get you back to your bunk, missy." I laughed, and started walking to the door. He stopped us before we could leave the mess hall, though. "Just one more thing."

"Go ahead."

"What's your real name, Jones?" I froze. I should've expected that. I took a few seconds before answering.

"It's Lena," I admitted.

"Lena, huh?" he said to himself. He looked at me and brought me a little closer to him. "Lena Jones," he softly said before kissing me gently. "Beautiful," he said, breaking away. "Why do you want people to call you Jones?"

"Lena's too girly. I'm not a girly girl," I said, opening the door so we could leave.

"It's not too girly, it's a beautiful name," he said as we started to walk towards our bunks. "It suits you."

"Just don't tell the others, okay? I don't like people calling me that."

"What if it's just me? Is it okay if I call you Lena when it's just us?"

"I guess that's okay," I told him and stopped outside of where the nurses' bunks were. They separated where the nurses slept and where the soldiers slept.

"Well, here you are," he said, not intending to let go of my hand anytime soon.

"Such a gentleman, aren't you?" I playfully asked him.

"It's how my mother raised me, ma'am," he said, tipping an imaginary hat. I laughed. I put my arms around his neck, as if I was going to hug him.

"Well, thank you, kind sir," I said, giving him one last kiss. He held me close. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I'll save you a seat at breakfast, how does that sound?" he asked.

"Sounds great," I answered, smiling. "Goodnight soldier."

"Goodnight Lena Jones," he said softly, tenderly kissing my forehead. "Sweet dreams." He smiled one last time before going to his bunk. I smiled; I couldn't remember the last time I had smiled so much in one night. I went to my bunk, sighed and lied down. I haven't felt this good in a long time.

"Long day, Jones?" I heard Tina ask me from her bunk. She was writing a letter to her boyfriend, Matt, back home.

"Yeah," I answered. "But a good day." I didn't realize earlier how tired I actually was. I moved my pillow so I would be more comfortable. I remembered Tunny's lips on mine, his hands on my body, starting to touch me and kiss me in ways I haven't felt in a long time. Ways that I really missed being touched. I smiled one more time and closed my eyes, hoping my dreams would be filled with a certain Southern soldier.

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><p><strong>Phew! That took a while.<strong>

**So does innuendo-making-sexually-frustrated-but-still-a-Southern-gentleman-soldier!Tunny get a review? I mean, I'd love that! **

**Also, more virtual baked goods for you if you review!**


	5. Heavy Breathing

**I AM SO SORRY. I have been putting off writing this chapter for long enough. I'm just really nervous about writing lemons and M rated things so...yeah. Not to mention rehearsals, festivals, work, other university things have been in my way. I know, no excuses. I am the worst when it comes to updating. This is the chapter that I anticipate is the hardest to write, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often. I know an 19 page chapter is probably not worth all of it, but I sincerely hope that it is good enough for now. To any of you who are still sticking with me, words cannot express how thankful I am. Thanks for keeping me motivated and staying with me.**

**(I swear I have this entire story planned out chapter by chapter so it would be hard for me to drop it.)**

**Disclaimer: Nothing American Idiot related is mine. But there is a Green Day Angry Birds game that I would very much like to try! Also this chapter is M rated. You'll see why.**

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><p>"How's his heart rate?"<p>

"The bleeding under control?"

"We'll handle the stitching."

"Is there any morphine around?"

"Here, I'm hooking it up right now."

"Thanks, Jones."

Overlapping voices filled the hospital room. One of the soldiers had nearly died in my arms today.

"Stay calm."

"I think we're done."

"He'll be fine," Alysha, the head nurse, said. "It's a close call, but he'll survive."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive. He's in better shape. Good work, ladies. Sorry some of you had to miss breakfast cause of this."

"This was an emergency, we signed up for this," Jen said from beside me.

Alysha smiled. "Glad to hear. Those of you who missed breakfast, you have 15 before your shift actually starts. Go get something to eat." I nodded towards Alysha then turned to Jen. We left to get some food; I wanted out of this room for now.

We had been woken up at 4:30 am, where someone had told us there was an emergency, and Jen and I were on call for that today. A soldier who was taken in late last night was severely ill. He was shot in the side and when they brought him in; not everyone was sure he was going to make it. The night nurses managed to help him, but a few hours later, an infection had started to quickly spread throughout his body. I wasn't completely sure how it happened, but it managed to cause even more bleeding and for him to slip in and out of consciousness. I had to support him and get him to calm down while the other nurses worked on him.

Thankfully he's okay. And we can all breathe again.

"Tough morning, huh?" Jen said. "I'm starved let's get some food." She didn't seem swayed at all.

I couldn't understand how she could be so calm about this.

"Jen, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Stay so calm. For God's sake, a soldier almost died in front of us!"

"Jones, relax!"

"How can you-"

"Get a hold of yourself!" She raised her voice a little. Luckily at this time, the mess hall was practically empty. We still managed to get our food and sat down at a table. "Look," she said in a quieter voice. "You're lucky that after being here for as long as you have, this is the first real traumatic thing that has happened to you. When you sign up to be a nurse in the war, you don't always see the prettiest things. It's scary out there. It's up to us to make sure nothing scarier happens to these soldiers."

I breathed in and out. I was still trying to properly settle myself.

"Jones, this job ain't easy. But someone's gotta do it."

"I know," I said. "It's just...it's scary knowing that someone could've died in your arms before the sun rises."

Jen patted me on the shoulder. "But he survived. You've gotta admit, it's a pretty damn good feeling knowing that the soldier you almost lost will survive."

"Yeah," I agreed. I picked at my food.

"Jonesy, you gotta eat something. You've got a long day ahead of you."

I started eating my apple. "Jen, why'd you sign up?"

"Huh?" she said.

"Why'd you sign up to be a nurse in the war?"

"I'll tell you if you eat your breakfast. And don't take your sweet time; we only have about 10 minutes."

I started eating more of the food on my tray. "Happy?"

"Yes," Jen said, finishing her eggs. "My little brother signed up to join the army. He thought it would be so cool to be out on the field, serving his country, get into good shape, meet girls," she laughed a bit at the last part. "You've seen the ad they always play on tv, right? That seemed so cool to him. He wanted to be a soldier. So a week after his 18th birthday, he announced to our family that he was going to enlist. My mom started crying. My dad-I'll never forget this-took a long, hard look at him. My dad was once a soldier, too. He almost died in combat." Jen paused for a bit. "He took my brother outside for a talk. I didn't know what to do. I sat there at the dinner table imagining my baby brother, little Larkin, out fighting in the war. Being a hero? I could see that. But I couldn't let myself imagining the worst. I wasn't going to let my baby brother, one of my best friends, go out to this war alone. When they came back inside, I stood up, looked Larkin straight in the eye and said, _'You're not going alone.' _

"_Huh?" Larkin said._

"_I'm not letting you go alone. I'm going with you."_

"_What?" our parents said. Mom had come back down from upstairs._

"_I can't let you go out there alone, Larkin. I'm going with you."_

"_Jennifer, think about what you're saying," Dad told me. _

"_No, we can't let both of our kids go to fight in the war," Mom had said._

"_I'll be a nurse! I just finished college. I just can't stand the thought of you going to war alone," I said, looking at Larkin._

"_Jen, I-"_

"_Look, I know you probably don't want your older sister there with you, but it kills me to think of you going out there and fighting and not having someone to protect you," I went up to him and playfully punched his shoulder."That's my job."_

_I turned to my parents. "I'll come back alive. I won't go in combat. I want to help. And I want to make sure nothing happens to my baby brother."_

"My parents told me to think it through completely. I had a really long talk with my parents and brother about it. Ultimately, they let us go, and liked the idea of me keeping an eye on Larkin," Jen finished.

"Wow," I said.

"Yeah. So if that doesn't make me a good sister, I don't know what does."

"Weren't you scared? That you'd see him in the hospital wing?" I asked.

"I still am. Every time a soldier comes in, I'm terrified it's my little brother. But this is what I signed up for. To protect him, keep an eye on him, _save him _if it ever came down to that."

"You really are a great sister."

"Thanks, I'm good with the 'responsible stuff'. Speaking of which, we've gotta head back. We've got more soldiers to save. And finish your eggs, you've only got two bites left!"

"Yes Jen," I said in a mocking voice as if she were my mother.

"Do I need to do the airplane thing?"

I shook my head and finished off what was left on my plate. "There."

"Good job, Jones!" she said in her 'mother' voice. "Or should I say Lena?"

"Shh! You know I don't like that name!"

"Well Tunny knows it now, doesn't he?" she teased as we headed back.

"How'd you know?" I asked, a little surprised.

"With all the making out I'm sure you did last night, he must've at least gotten your full name out of you."

"Jen!"

"Oh please, you don't think I know what you were planning to do last night? You both have serious urges."

"Do we have to talk about this now?" I asked as we entered the hospital wing. I stopped walking. He was standing there. "Tunny?"

"Hey," he said. He was leaning against the desk.

"No, but you do have _a lot _of explaining to do, Missy," Jen said to me before nodding at Tunny and leaving the room.

"What're you doing here?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to be stationed somewhere by now?"

"Well for one thing, I was wondering why you and a bunch of nurses had missed breakfast. But also, one of my fellow men didn't show up this morning and I got worried. We were supposed to do last minute drills this morning together, but apparently he was in here all night. Can I see him?"

"Gerard?" I asked. He nodded. "I was tending to him all night. I don't think you can see him now. Last I checked he was still pretty weak."

"Can you check now?" he practically demanded, stepping closer to me. "Sorry," he said, rubbing his shoulder. "I just need to know that he's okay."

"He's like your little brother?" I asked.

"One of my best buddies," Tunny said with a small smile.

I took his hand. "He's going to survive. I never would've left the hospital wing if I wasn't sure of that."

"Really?" he said, taking my other hand.

"Yes. I'll go back and check how he's doing now. I'm not sure if now is the best time for visitors, but he is going to be okay. I swear."

Tunny smiled. "Thanks." I gave him a reassuring smile before going to check on Gerard. "Hey," he said, pulling me closer to him again. "Thanks for last night, too. One of the best nights I've had in a while."

I smiled at him. "Me too." I quickly kissed his cheek before going to Gerard's room to check on him. Alysha was still in there filling out some paperwork.

"Hey Jones."

"Hi Alysha. How's he doing?" I looked over at Gerard. He was sleeping.

"Getting better. It was a close call this morning, but he's doing fine. Occasionally his heart rate may seem irregular, but it goes back to normal. Still has some bleeding and he can be a bit stubborn with the medication and morphine, but that's to be expected. He'll be back to normal within a few days."

"That's good to hear."

"Jones, I'm putting you with him today. If some of the other nurses need help, then help them, but your main focus is him. You were working well with him this morning, and it's good for him to have a nurse that he's more comfortable with."

"Gotcha. And if he has visitors?"

"Not now. When he's awake and you deem him to be well enough to handle visitors, then let them see him. It's up to you to decide."

"Alright, I can do that."

"Good. Can you take these forms and put them in his file? I've gotta check on some of the others," Alysha said, handing me the papers. "And Jones? You've been doing a really great job. I'm proud of you," she said with a smile before leaving.

I grinned. It feels good knowing the head thinks well of you.

I headed back to the front desk where Tunny was still waiting. "So?" he asked.

"He's still bleeding a bit and is still trying to adjust to the medication and morphine, but other than that, he's fine. Just sleeping," I told him, putting Gerard's forms away.

Tunny sighed in relief. "What exactly happened?"

"I'd tell you, but I've learned that you soldiers prefer to tell these 'war stories' themselves."

Tunny laughed lightly. "Gerard would. So when can I visit?"

"I'd say later in the day. Late afternoon or evening."

"Is he going to be here all night again?"

"Yes. He'll be here for a few days just so we can monitor him."

"I'll come back here tonight. I'm doing drills today and I might be assigned to another task so it'll be crazy. But I want to see him..." Tunny trailed off. "And you."

"What?" I asked. He gently lifted his hand to my face. "Right," I said. "Sorry, my mind goes all over the place when I'm playing nurse."

"I wish you wouldn't say it like that," he said under his breath. "I'll come back tonight." Before I knew it, he pressed his lips to mine, still cupping my face. He kissed me for longer than I expected, and I was slightly out of breath once he broke away. He smiled at me one more time before saying, "I'll see you later."

I nodded and smiled. Words were not the best option at this point.

* * *

><p>"Come on, buddy, don't fail me now."<p>

Gerard had fallen unconscious again and his heartbeat slowed way down. I guess his body needed more time to adjust to the medication.

But I was not about to let him die on me. Again.

"Come on Gerard," I said, pumping his chest, doing CPR. He started coughing.

Thank goodness.

"Gerard, you gotta stop almost dying on me," I said to him as his eyes started blinking open.

"Huh?" Apparently he had no recollection of what just happened.

"Are you doing alright?" I asked, shaking slightly. Almost losing someone in your arms can take a toll on you.

"Yeah I guess," he said, rubbing his chest. "What happened?"

"You were unconscious and your heartbeat slowed down." Please don't let this happen again.

"Whoa," he said, his eyes growing wide. This kid was only nineteen, yet he reminded me of an eager ten year old at times. "Thanks for saving me, Jones," he said with a smile.

"It's my job," I said smiling back. I went to go wipe my face with a towel.

"Jones, are you okay?" Gerard asked.

I nodded. "It can take a lot out of you."

"Is it okay for me to come in?" someone said from the door. I turned and looked. It was Tunny. He gave me a smile, waiting for my answer.

"Gerard, you feeling up for a visitor?" I asked him. He eagerly nodded.

"Yeah, of course!" he said with a smile. Tunny entered. The two of them smiled at each other and did some sort of handshake as if they were brothers.

"What happened there, little man?" Tunny asked, clapping Gerard on the shoulder.

"I'm not little, Clarke! I was just ready to fuck shit up, you know?" They both laughed.

"Chase told me about it. Man, nobody can deny you're tough," Tunny said.

Gerard was beaming. "See you guys wouldn't believe me. Yeah, Chase brought me in, saw what happened. Got dirtied up too but I'm glad nothing serious happened to him," Oh God, Chase almost got hurt, too? "Dude's got a lady back home," Gerard continued. "By the way, Clarke, what's this about you and-"

"Jones?" I heard someone ask. I looked up from cleaning up the table. How did Gerard know?

"Jones you packing it in soon?" I sighed. It was just Libby outside.

"Yeah," I said, leaving the two soldiers inside to bond.

"She's pretty, huh?" I heard Gerard say as I was leaving the room.

"Beautiful," Tunny said. I left the room.

"How you holding up, Jones?" Libby asked me.

"Been better," I sighed. I tried to concentrate on breathing. Chase almost got hurt? It was bad enough what happened to Gerard, but Chase? With a girl waiting for him to come home?

"Can you take these towels back to the storage closet? We took too much this morning, and there's more than enough for the night nurses just in case. I'm heading out, but I've gotta talk to one of the generals about what happened to one of the soldiers."

I really hoped that didn't mean what I thought it meant.

"You're coming in early tomorrow, too, right?" she asked me. I nodded. "Keep the key for the night. Just go straight to the closet and pick up the morning supplies we keep there before you come into the wing tomorrow. No point in having to drop off the key to use it the next morning, right?" she asked, handing me the key. I nodded.

"Sure thing," I said.

"Jones, are you okay?" Libby asked. She looked concerned.

"Libby, what did you mean about what happened to one of the soldiers?" I asked quietly. I didn't really want to hear the answer.

Libby took a deep breath. "We lost another one today."

"Another?" Oh no. "How many have we lost? How much have you been keeping from me?" I could feel myself starting to shake again.

"Hey, hey," Libby said gently. "Calm down." She grabbed me by the shoulders. "Breathe."

"Libby, how many have we lost?"

"More than I'd like to admit," she said, trying to make it sound better than it was.

"Oh God," I said. I could feel tears welling in my eyes. These were men that I had treated, had conversations with. Now some of them are gone.

"We don't like to announce when some of them...lose their battle," she said in a motherly tone.

"But what about their loved ones back home? What about those people waiting for them to come home? They're never going to see them again," I said. I could feel myself losing control of my body. My voice was shaky, imagining these families waiting to hear back from their soldiers who they'll never hear from again.

"I know it's been a rough day for you, Jones," Libby said.

"Gerard almost died in my arms again for the second time just a few minutes ago!" I yelled. There was no point in trying to hide the tears that I had been holding back all day. Libby pulled me into a hug.

"I know, sweetie," she said, comforting me. I just sobbed. "To know what happens to these boys is a scary thing. It's even more terrifying to know that their lives are in your hands. But this is what we signed up for, we all did. You signed up to help, didn't you?"

I nodded, pulling away to look at her. "Yeah. But these soldiers-"

"Know what they got themselves into when they signed up," Libby finished. "They knew it was a huge risk and that there's a possibility that they'll never come home. But they knew."

"Why-"

"Do they do it?" Libby finished again. "Because they know it's right. They know what they're doing is a good thing. They're fighting for their country so their kids won't have to. They're protecting their country. If they die, they die a hero."

I nodded. I understood that.

"And that's why we're here. To make sure they come home a hero. Not all of them make it back. But it's our job to bring as many of them home as possible," Libby said with a smile.

"I just never really had to deal with death yet," I said quietly.

"You're lucky," she said to me. "It's not an easy thing to deal with. And it takes time. You'll never brush it off like it wasn't a big deal, but the impact it has on you decreases to a less...traumatic level."

"I hope," I said. I hugged her one more time. "Thanks Libby," I said, wiping my tears away.

"No problem girl. I'm here if you need me. And I think I'm nicer than Alysha," she said with a joking smile. I laughed and nodded. "You doing okay?"

"I'll be fine," I said. "Do what you need to, I'm almost done here. The night nurses are already in."

"Don't forget about the towels that need to go in the storage closet. And the key."

"And I go straight to the closet and get the morning supplies before coming here tomorrow morning. Gotcha," I told her.

Libby smiled. "Awesome. Have a good night, Jones!" she said, leaving.

"You too!" I told her before she left. I sighed, wiping the last of the tears away.

"Everything okay?" I knew it was Tunny who asked me. Before I could stop myself, I turned to him and hugged him. I held him close; _my_ soldier was still here.

"It's been a rough day," I muffled into his chest.

"I know," he said. I could feel him press his lips to my head and him softly rubbing my back. "It's alright. Just breathe; you need a break away from all this." I didn't want to move. I felt safe, happy where I was.

"Gerard...he...twice," I stumbled for words.

"I know. But he's strong for a little guy," Tunny said. I laughed lightly. "He's alive. And you saved him, isn't that a good feeling?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Isn't that part of why you signed up? I mean, you know, other than picking up a hot soldier to bring home?" he asked. I playfully punched his shoulder.

"Don't sound too cocky now," I told him. "But yes, that is part of the reason." I took a breath and went to go check on Gerard.

"Hey Ger-" I started to say. He had already basically knocked out. He was snoring. It was kind of funny.

"Yeah, he was pretty much ready to pass out while we were talking," Tunny said from behind my shoulder.

"As long as he's okay." He led me back to the office and we let Gerard sleep.

"Lena, I gotta tell you something," Tunny said.

"As long as you promise not to say my first name so loud," I told him. He took my hands and looked me straight in the eye.

"I'm going on the front line tomorrow."

No.

No, I know what that means.

"Are you kidding?" I asked him. Please let him be kidding.

Not another one.

Not him.

Not my soldier.

Not Tunny.

"I'm not kidding. I was supposed to be sent out there with Gerard today. But I'm going out there tomorrow."

No, no, no.

"You can't," I told him.

Fuck, not him too.

"This is what I signed up for. I have to."

"No!"

No, no, my soldier was safe. He was safe, he wasn't hurt. He wasn't going to get shot.

Oh God, but if he goes out there tomorrow-

"You could be killed out there!" I felt myself panicking.

"Sh, shh, it's okay," he said, trying to calm me down.

"Tunny, you could get killed out-" I said. He cut me off by pulling me to his chest. I tried pushing him away.

"I know, this is what I've gotta do though. I'm going out there."

"But I don't want you hurt!" I told him. Oh God, I could feel the tears starting to well in my eyes.

"I know it's been a rough day for you-"

"You think?!" I almost yelled. "Your buddy almost died in my arms twice today, and now I don't know how many soldiers have died out here, and you're telling me that you could be next?"

Oh God, please no.

"I'll be safe out there I promise."

"You can't promise that! It's never a guarantee!"

"Calm down, listen to me!" He grabbed my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm scared of what's going to happen. But I came here to fight for my country. I have something to fight for. And I'll be damned if I go home without being able to fully say that I tried. I have to do this." I started getting even more teary-eyed. I just hugged him close to me again.

I was happy. With him here. I didn't even want to think about what would happen to him.

"I just want you to be safe," I whispered. I was so scared. All the news about death and near death seemed to be hitting me on the same day. I couldn't bear to think if Tunny was next. I was actually kind of happy for the first time in a long time.

I didn't want him taken away from me, too.

"I'll be safe out there." He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently. I started kissing him back more passionately; who knows how often I would get to do this within the next 24 hours?

"I should probably tell the night nurses I'm leaving," I said, breaking away from him. He nodded and wiped away a tear I had missed. I smiled at him, then went to go find Jen, who was in the main room where most of the soldiers were kept, and told her I was done for the day. It was 9:15.

I needed to get out of here.

"You doing okay Jonesy?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "It's just been a crazy day." She went over to me and gave me a hug.

"Being in this force will teach you to be tough. But it doesn't get any easier."

"Takes time, right?" I asked her.

"Right. Oh, before I forget, Jillian accidentally grabbed an extra laundry basket this morning." She shook her head; Jillian was the newbie who could be a little too eager at times. "Can you take it back to the storage closet? Libby said I should ask you since you have the keys for the night." She pointed to the empty basket in the corner.

"Sure, I've gotta drop things off there anyway before I head back." I grabbed the basket and put the extra towels that Libby had told me to put away in the basket.

"Jones," she said before I left. "Take a little break for yourself tonight, okay? You need to get your mind off the crazy things like these."

"I will," I told her with a smile.

"Go find Tunny or something, he'll probably take your mind off of everything," she said casually before checking on another sleeping soldier.

Tunny.

Wait.

I walked out of the main room and found Tunny sitting on the desk.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

It hit me.

I was off my shift.

I had the only keys to the closet.

There was nobody else around.

And my soldier, who I've been dying to see, is with me now.

Before he goes and risks his life on the front line.

Where he could die.

I dropped the basket on the desk, put my hands on his face and kissed him passionately. He seemed a little shocked, but was more than happy to respond.

"What's going on?" he asked, a little out of breath.

"I want you. Now."

"Now?" he asked, a little surprised, but happy at the same time.

"Well, when else am I going to get the chance if you're going out there tomorrow?"

I could tell he was thinking about it, but before I could count to ten, a smile appeared on his face and he pulled me to him again. He kissed me, hard.

"Can we?" he asked before kissing me again.

"I have the keys. I need to go there anyway." I took the keys out of my pocket. He nodded and grabbed the basket full of towels.

"If anyone asks, I'm helping you put the stuff away," he whispered.

"They won't, but if you insist," I told him. "I don't want to think about any of the hospital worries or things tonight." I led the way out of the hospital wing to the storage closet. Once I opened the door, we stepped inside and he put the basket on the ground.

He closed and locked the door behind us. He took my face in his hands.

"You're the only thing I want to think about."

I kissed him and pinned him against the door. My soldier was going on the frontline tomorrow and I wasn't sure if I was going to see him alive afterward. I wasn't about to miss this chance. He kissed me gently as if I was the frailest thing in the world. I started to pull his shirt over his head to show him I wanted more.

"We could go slow," I said against his lips. "But right now, all I know is I want you now while I know I still have you. Before I face the fact that I could lose you in a few hours." I pulled his shirt completely off and let my hands roam his chest. "Please," I whispered.

He pulled my shirt off and grabbed my hips. He lifted me, which surprised me, but I wrapped my legs around him anyway. I kept kissing him and felt my back hit a wall. His lips left mine to look for the smaller door. I unwrapped my legs so I could undo his pants. I heard him grunt.

"I don't care if we get caught," I told him. "I just need you. Now."

I let his pants fall to the ground and my hand went to touch him through his underwear. He moaned, though I know he tried to suppress it.

"Are you sure? You don't have to," he said, but I could hear the desire in his voice. He wanted this just as badly as I did.

"Yes," I breathed out. I started to kiss down his neck, his chest, taking in as much as I could of him. I wanted to remember how he touched me, how he felt under my fingertips, how he tasted-

I took off the last of his clothes.

"Fuck," I heard him say.

This was so much better than what I imagined before. Better than what I expected. I never really liked going on my knees but I was more than happy to do it for him. And I knew he wanted it.

I did, too.

"Baby," I barely heard him say. "Lena," he breathed out. I could hear his breathing change whenever I did something different with my mouth or hands. He took my hair out of its ponytail and ran one hand through it. I got goosebumps.

Everything felt s_o good._

Judging by the way he moaned I assumed he felt the same way.

I kept working at it. He was worth every second of this.

"Fuck baby," he said. "You're...I'm..._fuck._"

He pulled out of my mouth gently and pulled me up so he could kiss me. Hungrily this time. He was the one kissing me like there was no tomorrow. I realized I was still clothed except for my shirt, so I went to undo my pants. His hands went to my back, teasing me, fingering my bra. Once my pants hit the floor, his hands went down to my ass and he picked me up again. I kicked off my shoes, not realizing he had taken his off before.

He swept off the items on a small table and sat me on it. He started kissing my neck and found his way to the sweet spot on my collarbone. I moaned before I could stop myself.

"You like that, huh?" he whispered. I could hear the smile in his voice. He kept kissing it, using his tongue while his hands undid my bra and slid it off my shoulders. His hands went down to my breasts, touching them, grabbing them, teasing them while his mouth slowly followed. He locked eyes with me as he took one in his mouth, his other hand massaging the other.

"Oh God." I knew I wouldn't be able to control what would come out of my mouth tonight. He smiled his sly little smirk, and wouldn't break eye contact with me as one hand continued its way down and slipped off the last of my clothes.

"Feel good?" he asked as his fingers started teasing me down there.

God he was so sexy.

"Yes," I managed to breathe out. He started kissing me, his mouth grazing my body and making its way down to the place I wanted most. I could feel his hot breath on my inner thighs, teasing me even more.

"Tunny please," I practically begged. He smiled that killer smile of his and-

Holy. Fuck.

I don't know what I was expecting in the first place, but what he was doing now had blown it out of the water.

My breathing started getting heavier. His mouth-and tongue, God what he could do with that-started exploring and I wasn't about to stop him.

"Tunny-"

I couldn't even form proper words. Just noises that I couldn't control. I knew he loved it. I swear I could feel him smiling, which made him use his tongue faster. It wasn't long before one of his hands left my breasts and grazed its way down to stroke me.

Fuck.

I haven't felt this good in a _long _time. And he _really_ knew what he was doing.

I felt him slip one finger in...then another.

"_Fuck Tunny,_" I moaned louder than I had hoped. I leaned back on my elbows and threw my head back; this felt fucking amazing.

"You will," he said with a wink. He kept his eyes on me the entire time while he worked his tongue and fingers on me.

He wasn't lying when he said he was good with his fingers.

I didn't know how much longer I would last.

"Tunny...I-" I couldn't even finish the sentence. He knew what I was about to say. He stopped and was about to enter me, but-

"Wait," I said before I could stop myself.

"What, you wanna stop?" he asked, looking confused and a little hurt.

"NO, NO, definitely not. Stop is the last thing I want to do," I told him reassuringly.

"Then what?"

"We can't do it unprotected. Did you manage-"

"Yeah," he said and quickly went to the pocket of his pants. I really didn't like the loss of contact, but it was necessary.

Stupid precautions.

He was back before I knew it. He kissed me and finally entered me.

I gasped.

This was better than I expected.

He kissed me and gave me some time to adjust before he started to move. I kissed him back, but it was only a matter of time before I broke away. This was just too good for me to be silent. Little moans and noises started coming out of my mouth, but only grew louder once he started going faster. I couldn't sit upright anymore, and I lay down on the table. My new position hit other places I wasn't expecting.

"I-" I don't even know what I was going to say.

"Fuck," I hear him say under his breath. It sounded deeper and huskier than before.

Which was incredibly hot.

One of his hands went to play with my breasts since I was lying down on the table.

"Holy fuck, Tunny," I said out loud. He smiled at me again. I couldn't control the noises that I was making because it just felt so _amazing._ I supported myself on my elbows and looked at him. He had his eyes on me; they were dark and lustful, but there was something there that I hadn't seen before. But I loved it. He brought me back up and kissed me again.

"Baby, I'm close," he said against my lips.

"Me, too," I said. He slowed down a little, but went harder. I groaned. I could feel myself about getting closer to the edge. My hands clawed at his back. My legs wrapped even tighter around him. I was _so close._

"Tunny-" his lips cut me off and he kissed me again. His tongue played with mine. One of his hands left my body to play with my clit like he did before.

I was about to scream.

He kept going harder, speed picking up from before; his fingers kept working its magic. He had his lips in my hair; I could feel his heavy breathing by my ear. His other hand tightened on my hip.

He groaned; he was as close as I was. God, those noises he made were so hot.

His lips broke from my hair and our foreheads connected again. I could feel his fingers going faster.

"Baby-" I said before feeling the last few thrusts, stronger and enough to push me over the edge. My fingers clawed into his back. I screamed his name into his shoulder. I shuddered all over and rode the last of it till I could breathe properly again.

_Amazing._

I can't even think straight.

God I don't know the last time that I've felt this good.

His last few thrusts had sent him over, too. I heard him say my name. He held me close.

All you could hear in the empty closet was our heavy breathing.

Our foreheads connected again as we tried to catch our breath. He looked in my eyes again and smiled. I smiled back. We didn't need to say anything right now. My fingers went to trace his tattoos again. His grazed down my shoulders and down my arms, eventually grabbing my hands. He kissed them, holding mine in his, never breaking eye contact with me. There was something new in them. I couldn't put my finger on it. But it was wonderful. I smiled again and he laughed.

I never wanted this moment to end.

"Wow," he said. It was my turn to laugh.

"Yeah," I said. One of his hands touched- no caressed- my face. Like he was fascinated. I leaned into it.

"Don't leave me," I whispered. He looked concerned for a moment before kissing me again. Sweetly. I kept kissing him; I never wanted to stop. After a while he broke away.

"I won't," he whispered back against my lips.

"Liar," I told him. I moved my head back to really look at him. "I don't want you to go out there tomorrow. I don't want you to leave me."

He kissed my forehead and held me to his chest. I kissed it and wrapped my arms around him. I didn't want to let go.

"I'll come back to you. I promise," he said. He brought my face up so I could look at him. "I'm not letting you go." I smiled; I could hear he really meant it.

"Good," I said. "Cause I don't want you away from me." He laughed lightly.

"I don't think I could leave if I tried."

We didn't need to say anything. It was enough being with him here. I was in _my soldier's _arms while he was still safe and sound. I tried not to think about what could possibly happen in the next few hours. It was hard trying not to tear up.

_He's here with you. He's not fighting right now. He's with you alive and safe. That's all that matters._

He left my arms. I grabbed his hand as he left. He smiled and held up a finger telling me to wait. I watched him move the shelving unit to reveal and open the door that we were supposed to use; we just didn't have the patience to actually find it first. He grabbed a couple of blankets and pillows and went in the little room. Instead of waiting, I got curious and decided to go to the door, too. He held his hand out like a gentleman and brought me in. He had set up a little makeshift bed. I smiled. He sat down and brought me down too. He held me in his arms, softly rubbing my skin. I cuddled into his arms.

This felt...right.

"Don't worry about what could happen. I'm all yours tonight." He kissed the side of my head. I looked at him.

"Tunny," I softly said.

"Yeah?" he asked, kissing my nose this time. I giggled a little. I looked up in his eyes and leaned against his shoulder.

"I... I l-" I stopped. What was I going to say? _Love? _

Was that this new funny feeling?

Was that what I thought I saw in his eyes?

He just kissed my head again and held me.

"Yeah," he simply said. I decided to drop it and cuddle up to him again.

_Don't worry about that now. Enjoy this moment. Who knows when you're going to get this again?_

He pushed my sweaty hair away from my face. "You're so beautiful."

"Shut up," I playfully said, turning away. I couldn't help it, it was a habit.

"No really," he insisted, holding my face before kissing me again. "I wasn't expecting this when I signed up."

"Me neither," I told him. "But I'm glad that I did." I kissed him again, more passionately this time, my tongue being the first to initiate anything. He moved me so I was straddling his hips. His hands started softly roaming my body. He started kissing down my neck again. I sighed.

How did I get so lucky?

"I'm asking myself the same thing," he told me, looking at me again.

Did I say that out loud?

"You're incredible," I told him.

"You think so, ma'am?" he asked with a smile on his face, using his Southern accent again. I swear I saw him wink. I laughed. He started kissing my neck again, his hands drifting to my hips.

"Yes," I softly said.

"Mmm... think you can take more?" he whispered against my skin, giving me goosebumps again.

"Gladly," I said with a smile. I pinned him down on the ground, but he rolled me over so I was on my back. He gently started kissing me again.

"Let me show you how incredible we Southern gentlemen can be," he said before starting to softly kiss my skin. All over.

This was going to be a long night.

But I didn't mind.

Not as long as I was with my Southern gentleman of a soldier.

* * *

><p><strong>This is my first time writing anything lemon-y so please be nice-ish. If it really is horrible, tell me so I can improve if it comes up again. Or review anyway! Lets me know who is still with me. I'm sorry if it seems like I've given up, BUT I HAVEN'T I'M STILL GOING WITH THIS.<strong>

**Please review! You get cookies! :) (well virtual baked goods)**


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